John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad to contribute to this debate and I strongly support the Fine Gael motion. It is great to hear the positivity regarding this motion from every side of the House. Along with Deputy Noonan last night and many of my colleagues during this debate, I express total exasperation at the Government's attitude to my party's proposal. I would like the Minister to explain in his contribution why it was necessary to bring in an amendment when our motion is very simple. Every one of the 166 Deputies in the House supports this motion, as, I assume, does every person in Ireland. Why could it not be a simple process with the Government supporting the motion rather than bringing in its own amendment? Twenty-four hours ago the Taoiseach appealed to this side of the House making it responsible for ensuring that four year plans and budgets would be passed. The Government wants consensus from us but it does not give consensus to us. This is an example of that attitude. The time for playing games is over. The Government has played games with the taxpayers' money for the past 15 years. I wish to leave that aside and move on but I am interested in hearing the Minister's explanation as to why an amendment was included.

The maintenance of the 12.5% corporation tax is crucial to the economic recovery of the country and the continuance of inward investment from outside, particularly from the United States. Multinational companies from the US employ 3,000 people directly in my constituency of Mayo. Allergan of Westport, Baxter Healthcare in Castlebar, Hollister and Coca-Cola in Ballina are the main employers. They provide 3,000 jobs with probably another 3,000 in back-up or spin-off jobs, if the truth were known. They want to be in Ireland because it is a gateway to the rest of Europe, with an efficient and well-educated workforce. However, we cannot take these things for granted. We need this pillar of corporation tax at 12.5%. If this rate was vital in attracting investment in the first place during the good years, it is even more critical now at a time when we need to protect what we have and encourage more business.

In recent weeks my constituency has witnessed the knife edge on which many of these jobs lie. Two hundred and fifty jobs were welcomed with great euphoria in Ballina by the Government. A week later 200 jobs were lost in Baxter in Ballina. The corporation tax is vital and a clear message must be sent out about it. There are certain incentives which are non-negotiable, whether it is the Government, the IMF or the ECB which is making the decisions. If the tax was needed during the boom it is needed thousands of times more now. There is another aspect to the debate on raising the corporation tax. During the Lisbon treaty debate when Members went around the country talking to the people we were assured by Europe that tax rates were to be decided upon by the individual country. There were no ifs, buts, provisos or opt-out clauses. Now is the time, in our hour of need, to deliver on the clarification given at that time. The Lisbon treaty would not have passed if that guarantee had not been given and therefore a different view is not acceptable now and cannot be contemplated.

Corporation tax affects and influences the mobility of investment. In Ireland we depend more on this mobility to attract jobs than most other countries do because of our peripheral location and because we are a gateway to the core countries of Europe.

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